Thursday, January 31, 2013

“Spell for a Divine Revelation:
Invoke the great name in a time of great stress, in major and
pressing crises. If not, you will blame yourself. In addition say
three times the “IAŌ,”
then the great name of God.

*
Betz adds in the footnotes: “When depth, length, and brightness
are summoned, this may indicate the re-enactment of creation. In such
a context, a serpent-face deity... would be appropriate, because the
serpent is the primordial form of the Gods...”

I found it interesting for, y'know, reasons.

NOTE: The VM phrase for the Great Name of God is INOUTHŌ in PGM I: 42-195 (line 150, to Selene: INOUTHŌ PTOUAUMI... etc.). Even is this isn't the name explicitly referenced in the above spell, it should work, as it's used in invocation rituals. If you want to experiment, play with IAŌ, INOUTHŌ, IAŌ, etc. Or reverse the sequence. Unless angry Caco-Daimons show up to mock you, you should totally be fine. Particularly if you Call the Sevenths and blast out space, or clean out space around you before.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

“Power isn’t just an abstraction:
It has possessors, supplicants, and hand servants. It can bought and
sold with money, integrity, favors and sacrificial blood — usually
not one’s own...

For those who chose to be on the other
side of activism — or for those who didn’t have a choice because
of birth or circumstance — watch out, because Power has
“prosecutorial discretion.”

You can file all the petitions you like
with the powers that be. You can try to make Power –whether in the
form of wiretapping without warrants or violating international
conventions against torture — follow its own laws. But Power is, as
you might suspect, on the side of Power. Which is to say, Power never
pleads guilty.”

You do not change Empire by cozying up
to it and becoming bedfellows. That just makes you an extension of
Empire, and its vehicle by proxy.

Occasionally, I run across folks who
want to regenerate neo-Paganism that is, in fact, an extension of
Empire and the State religions that ended up fucking over polytheism.
By being complicit with the Empire, they were subject to the flows of
Empire. And when the decline arrived?

They drowned, as they were warned, in a
flood of barbarism that culminated in the destruction of the
Sibylline Oracles, the gradual (though initially factitious – see
Arian Christianity versus early Catholic Christianity) enshrinement
of Christianity as the new State Religion, and the collapse of the
mystery cults.

In the end, the “Foederati
Barbarians” that destroyed the Sibylline Oracles and sacked Rome
ended up seeming more heroic than the violently racist, completely
broken Roman Empire.

Because, in a very real way, they
always had been. Juvenal comes to mind:

On that note, The Dishonest and
Dishonourable (which immediately
follows) also comes to mind.

Note: Stilicho, the Foederati warleader that initially stopped Alaric I, was accused of ordering the destruction of the Sibylline Books. However, there is no proof that he was the one that did it. In Romans and Barbarians (whose author's name escapes me at the moment, and isn't near by to take a look at), the author supposes he was motivated by the rabid Anti-Barbarian sentiments of the Roman Senate. She added that the Sibylline Books warned that the decline of Rome would culminate with Barbarians becoming King-Makers, and by this time in history they more or less were. The Foederati were both created to maintain order in the fractitious Empire, but the Senate pretty consistently fucked them over and drove them to defection. Following Stilicho's death around 407 CE, I think, Alaric finally succeeded in sacking Rome itself. Although Alaric's ambitions were finally thwarted by another Visigoth Warlord, and tribal enemy, Sarus.

The anti-barbarian sentiment is preciously what I mean by 'violently racist.' (Hell, even Juvenal shows more than a bit of it.) But getting back to brass tacks: Empire has been the number one failure of the last 5000 years, with the desire to establish order across vast tracts of land regardless of who lives there, and the establishment of laws that favor the powerful over the people.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

I've been holding off on sampling
Dioscorides entry on Enchanter's Nightshade
until I can find a few more interesting annotations to append to it.
I should have done it with the Mandragora
entry, but I was feeling lazy and about to house-sit.

In the
meantime (and while I work on a couple more book reviews), I wanted
to answer some private questions I had directed my way about this
blog. One reader complained that while I was diligent about trying to
compile some primary sources on subjects, I sometimes used archaic
phrasing or alluded to somewhat obscure subjects without fully
explaining them. In fact, I'm always keenly aware of this problem and
at odds with how to deal with it. My general decision is to make
appropriate links where possible, or at the very least provide
sources so that people can check them out if they feel so inclined.

However,
some subjects just aren't designed for discussion in exceedingly
simplistic terms, either. It would be impossible to talk about
certain plants in flying ointments, for example, without also
discussion the active alkaloids in them.* Furthermore, failing to
discuss those alkaloids also creates room for error by potentially
disguising the similar use of them in parts of the world which don't
correspond to the west. Eventually, I'm going to have to bring up the
use of tropane alkaloids in South America and the Caribbean, because
they have a more-than-passing resemblance to the way that flying
ointments are designed. Even though the plants that are used are
different (Brugmansia versus Enchanter's Nightshade
or the Mandrake root),
the use of scopolamine
by criminals in Columbia follows precisely the same utility as the
Evil Sleep
(Sophorific) spells in
the PDM. It also is massively similar to the way the Hand
of Glory was used in folktales,
folk magic, and so on.**

Additionally,
we also find these chemical agents being used – throughout their
history – for oracular purposes, for Theurgia,
and on and on. Nick Ferrell may think that people only discuss
“scientific” topics when it comes to magick because they are
noobs, but that's his problem.*** My problem is putting my cards on the
table. Thus if The History of Psychopharmacology
has relevant information on the subject and has a reliable source
(which I consider it to), then I'm going to quote it. To not do so
would be a silly as failing to provide Dioscorides entries in his De
Materia Medica, which almost
every secondary source on the subject is going to bring up. And you
know what? It hard as hell to find a decent copy of the fourth book
of De Materia Medica,
so I'm going to put that up, too.

Sometimes,
however, I do not feel the need to explain myself at all. If I've
already introduced an idea previously, I try to link back to the
entry. But sometimes I get lazy, again, because this blog is intended
to look more like field notes than to look like someone's Book O'
Magick or something. I also don't sell my services, so maintaining (what would be for myself) a
false mask of “professionalism” is bullshit. I
don't blame those that do it, I simply don't feel compelled to be one
of them. And I enjoy the freedom from that compulsion, and the leeway it provides.

If you
don't like what I put up? It's totally cool to stop reading the blog.
I really don't mind. I won't, like, mock you forever because you
rejected something I typically imagine only myself and some others
are interested in. After all. It's a disposable medium.

That's
what I like about the
prospect of blogging. It doesn't have to be perfect, and for an
insufficiency one blog has, another can help fill in for. If we all
wrote the same thing, wouldn't that make for a very boring set of
semi-literary prospects?

Jack.

* The
word Alkaloid
is derrived from the Latin root Alkali,
which comes from the Arabic al-qaliy:
“the ashes, burnt ashes.” It is one the basic chemical components
of the plant kingdom. These components are some of the ones that
interact with our own unique (as the response from person to person
can be very different) biology in a variety of ways.

**
Seriously, I could write about this stuff, or hero cults, not to
mention read about it,
for the rest of my life and still not be satiated. That I can also
put it to use is a massively enjoyable bonus. As for Sophorific Spells, if you hunt through the witch-hunting texts, that's precisely where that material shows up. So failing to give you the technical term is also a crap idea.*** I am simplifying his statements, of course. He'd probably be on board with someone discussing alchemy and bringing up Chemistry. Maybe. I dunno. Ask him, I guess. I also knew plenty of Chaotes with the tendency, and never really faulted them for it. Chaos Magick was kind've designed to be a hybrid pursuit, which is one of it's strong points. Even if a given person abuses the subjects they're using, that doesn't mean it doesn't work for them or that they'll be forever stuck doing so.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Mandagoras has a root that seems to be
a maker of love medicines. There is one sort that is female, black, called thridacias, with
narrower, longer leaves than lettuce, with a poisonous, heavy scent,
scattered on the ground. Among them are apples similar to service
berries — pale, with a sweet scent — in which is seed like a
pear. The two or three roots are a good size, wrapped within one
another, black according to outward appearance, white within, and
with a thick bark; but it has no stalk.

The male is white, and some have called
it norion. The leaves are bigger, white, broad, smooth like beet but
the apples are twice as big — almost saffron in colour,
sweetsmelling, with a certain strength — which the shepherds eat to
fall asleep. The root is similar to that above, yet bigger and paler,
and it is also without a stalk. The bark of the root is pounded and
juiced while it is fresh, and placed under a press. After it is
stirred the beaters should bottle it in a ceramic jar. The apples are
also juiced in a similar way, but the juice from them becomes
weakened.

The bark from the root is peeled off,
pierced with a thread, and hanged up in storage. Some boil the roots
in wine until a third remains, strain it, and put it in jars. They
use a wine cupful of it for those who cannot sleep, or are seriously
injured, and whom they wish to anaesthetise to cut or cauterize.
Twenty grains of the juice (taken as a drink with honey and water)
expel phlegm and black bile upward like hellebore, but when too much
is taken as a drink it kills. It is mixed with eye medicines,
medications to ease pain, and softening suppositories. As much as
five grains (applied alone) expels the menstrual flow and is an
abortifacient, and put up into the perineum as a suppository it
causes sleep. The root is said to soften ivory, boiled
together with it for six hours, and to make it ready to be formed
into whatever shape a man wants. Applied with polenta, the new leaves
are good both for inflammations of the eyes and ulcers.

They dissolve all hardnesses,
abscesses, glandular tumours [possibly goitre], and tumours. Rubbed on gently for five or six days it defaces
scars without ulcerating. The leaves (preserved in brine) are stored
for the same uses. The root (pounded into small pieces with vinegar)
heals erysipela [streptococcal skin infection], and is used with
honey or oil for the strikes of snakes. With water it disperses
scrofulous tumours [glandular swelling], goitres and tumours; and
with polenta it soothes the pains of the joints. Wine from the bark
of the root is prepared without boiling. You must put three pounds
(of the bark of the root) into thirteen gallons of sweet wine, and
three cupfuls of it is given to those who shall be cut or cauterized
(as previously mentioned). For they do not notice the pain because
they are overcome with dead sleep; and the apples (inhaled or eaten)
are sleep inducing, as is the apple juice. Used too much they make
men speechless. A decoction of the seed of the apples (taken as a
drink) purges the womb, and given as a pessary with sulphur that
never felt the fire it stops the red excessive discharge [menstrual
flow]. It is juiced — the root first incised or cut around various
ways — and that which runs out is then gathered into a bowl; and
the juice is more effective than the liquid. The roots do not bear
liquid in every place; experience shows as much. They give out also
that there is another sort called morion growing in shady places and
around hollows, having leaves similar to the white mandrake but
smaller (as it were), twenty centimetres long, white, lying round
around the root. This is tender and white, a little longer than
twenty centimetres, the thickness of the great finger. They say as
much as a teaspoon of a decoction of this (taken as a drink or eaten
with polenta in placetum, or food that is eaten with bread), will
infatuate [cause unconsciousness]. For a man sleeps in the same
fashion as when he ate it (sensible of nothing for three or four
hours) from the time that it is brought him. And physicians also use
this when they are about to cut or cauterize [anaesthetic]. They say
also that a decoction of the root (taken as a drink with
strychnos manicum) is an antidote.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Hyoscyamus is a shrub that sends out
thick stalks. The leaves are broad, somewhat long, jagged, black, and
rough. At the stalk flowers come out in sequence, like the flowers of
the pomegranate, hedged in with little shields full of seed. There
are three important different types, however. For one bears almost purple flowers, leaves similar to
smilax, a black seed, and little hard, prickly shields. But the other has yellowish flowers, with the leaves
and pods more tender,
and the seed a faint yellow like that of iris. These both cause
delirium and sleep, and are scarcely usable. The fittest for cures is
the third kind, which is the gentlest — fat, tender, and downy,
with white flowers and white seed. It grows near the sea and among
the rubbish of buildings.

You
must therefore use the white, but if this is not present then you
must use the yellow, but refuse theblack,
which is the worst.* The seed is juiced while tender, and the leaves
and the stalks are pounded and pressed, the mass then dried in the
sun. It is useful for a year because it is soon spoiled. The seed of
it (in particular) is juiced, pounded until dry with hot water poured
on it, and so pressed out. The juice is better than the liquid, and
better for pain. The green seed is pounded and mixed with 'three
months' wheat meal, made into tablets, and stored. First of all the
juice and that liquid made from the dry seed is made for
suppositories to take away pain, for sharp hot mucus, ear pains, and
the disorders of the womb. With meal or polenta it is used for
inflammation of the eyes and feet, and other inflammation. Ten grains
of the seeds (taken in a drink with the seed of poppy, honey and
water) do the same things, and are also good for coughs, mucus, fluid
discharges of the eyes and their other disorders, and for women's
excessive discharges [menstrual flow] and other discharges of blood.
Pounded into small pieces with wine and applied, it is good for gout,
inflated genitals, and breasts swollen in childbirth.

It
is effective mixed with other poultices made to stop pain. The leaves
(made into little balls) are good to use in all medications — mixed
with polenta or else applied by themselves. The fresh leaves (smeared
on) are the most soothing of pain for all difficulties. A decoction
of three or four (taken as a drink with wine) cures fevers called
epialae [sudden].
Boiled like vegetables and a tryblium
[plateful] eaten, they cause a mean disturbance of the
senses. They say if anyone gives a suppository with it tosomeone
that has an ulcer in the perineum that it has the same effect. The
root (boiled with vinegar) is a mouth rinse for toothache.

It
is also called dioscyamos,
pythonion**, adamas, adamenon, hypnoticum, emmanes, atomon, or
dithiambrion;
Pythagoras and Osthenes call it xeleon,
Zoroastres, tephonion,
the Romans, inanaoentaria,
some, Apollinaris,
the Magi, rhaponticum,
the Egyptians, saptho,
the Thuscans, phoebulonga,
the Gauls, bilinuntiam,
and the Dacians, dieliam.

*
“In his works Dioscorides described three species – black, white
and yellow. Of these he particularly commended the “white” as
being least dangerous. (As a matter of fact, it closely parallels
black Henbane medicinally, although rather weaker in action.)” –
Henbane:
Healing Herb of Hercules and of Apollo.
George M. Hocking. (Economic
Botany.
Vol. 1, No. 3, July – Steptember 1947.)

**
“According to Pliny, henbane was known in Greece as “Herba
Appolinaris” and taken by the Priestesses of Appollon for producing
their oracles. The oracle was named “Pytho” and the Priestess
“Pythia.” The term “Pythonion” for henbane reflects these
connections. The Priestesses of the Delphic oracle were said to have
inhaled smoke from smoldering henbane (Mann, 1992). In this context
it is remarkable that scopolamine (which is abundant in henbane) was
used in modern times for “brain washing.” Because of the higher
scopolamine content in Henbane, its hallucinogenic properties are
more pronounced than those of Atropa.
In antiquity, extracts were taken with wine and visions of
transformations into pigs and wolves were frequently reported.” –
Alkaloids:
Biochemistry, Ecology, and Medicinal Applications.
Edited by Margaret F. Roberts. Plenum Press, 1998.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

The
greenhouse is almost completed. The Black Nightshade is doing so well
that I'm prepared to grow some Atropa
Belladonna,
or Enchanter's
Nightshade...
Without some of the plaguing fears I once had. The first batch of a
conservative, but slightly toxic (read: most likely intoxicating)
Flying Potion batch is ready for field tests.

It
has been a strange couple of years for me here in Sac. I've
alternated between low and been propelled into feats of ecstasy that
would've scared the crap out of me when I was younger. I've tried to
normalize my approach to certain things, and found boons in places I
never thought to look. I've found old alliances still intact, and new
prospects for the future.

And
I've mostly had a blast, despite the bitterness that a Saturn Return
can bring.

Despite
the many times that I've slacked off – and I am perpetually
hyper-aware of them – I've found myself altering both my life and
outlook in ways that even a few years ago seemed outlandish.

And
yet... I'm just not done. Sometimes a weariness creeps in, and I just
want to rest. But often I find that these stages are transitory, and
there's always something new or a different take on something old to
consider. The closer I get to some of the goals I set years ago, the
more I feel prepared to voyage into different vistas and experience
things again.

Three
things come to mind:

I
need to avoid mocking certain... people, uh, more. It's a waste of
time, and they never really get it anyway.

Nothing
is ever easy, or safe. And who would want that anyway? Not I, said
the Faust.

Nothing
is new under the sun. Striving for the 'next big thing' is the
biggest stumbling block of both myself and my generation. At least
in my opinion. It's always the next book, or the next magical
technique, or... Whatever. Meanwhile, we possess the tools to both
live and act in accordance with our own unique path, and to find the
answers to the questions which vex us as well as the possibilities
that elude us.

I
don't know. That last one sounds a bit, uh, saccharine to me. But
whatever.

The
ride has been worth it. Each boon, each possibility, each change has
been worth it.

Fuck
the rest. I'll hunt down monsters on another day, when I'm less
intoxicated and less joyful over what I get to see and do at the
present moment. This is too nice to waste.

In the meantime, I have a few things to share on the blog in the weeks to come.